A Shadow Over Democracy

To the depressing list of things American students know too little about, add democracy.

Tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Education have found that only one in four high school seniors is well informed about constitutional government, how the nation’s laws work, and the ideals and values of democracy. Fully 35% lacked even a basic understanding. The poor results help explain the low rate of participation in public affairs by younger Americans. One survey found that only about 20% of eligible voters in the 18-25 age group cast ballots in the 1996 presidential election. But the cause for concern extends well beyond indifference to the electoral process.

Earlier benchmark tests conducted as part of the ongoing National Assessment of Educational Progress found major deficiencies in knowledge across the spectrum of academic subjects. This did not come as news to anyone who has been paying attention to what has been going on in American education. Most students know pitifully little about even the most basic facts of geography. In history, as one national test showed, an appallingly large number could not name the century in which the Civil War took place.

It’s an old lament that somewhere along the way American schools lost their way. What was once regarded as a common body of fundamental knowledge familiar to most high school graduates now appears to be the province of only a minority. There’s a lot to be anxious about in all this, and worry about the future of our democracy ought to be high on the list. The strongest barrier to assaults on American rights and freedoms, the surest means for detecting and resisting demagogy, is an informed citizenry. When only 26% of a representative sampling of high school seniors has more than a rudimentary understanding of the political process, there’s cause for serious national concern.